The scientific quest to understand the origin and frequency of planets requires the study of statistically significant populations of young stellar objects of different evolutionary states and in differing astrophysical environments. The main goal of this project is to conduct a coherent and systematic broad band infrared wavelength study of ten young embedded, or partially embedded, clusters in order to determine the frequency distribution of circumstellar disks in each cluster. This research program is expected to provide a solid empirical foundation for understanding how circumstellar disks evolve to form planetary systems together with an estimate of the frequency of planetary systems in the Galaxy.